So sad to hear the shocking news of Whitney Houston's passing away. She sang like an angel
and redefined a whole new generation of female singers, influencing the likes of Mariah Carey and
Christina Aguilera. Drugs ruined her life but she seemed to be on the up. RIP Whitney.

Though she is probably a JK fave (from his US Chart on TOTP/Entertainment USA/No Limits era) Whitney was lways one of my least favourite pop artists of the 80s I always found most of her 85-93 stuff saccharin and soulless. The tunes I did find agreeable - mainly the single mixes of the uptempo stuff - So Emotional, Love Will Save The Day, Queen Of The Night were pretty good. It's a shame she never heeded the words of her own rendition of The Greatest Love Of All. Even as 13/14 yr old I found her wilfully bland 'vanilla' image contemptable, and if I never hear I Wanna Dance With Somebody or I Will Always Love You ever again it will be too soon. Sadly, in light of her demise, it will be those two over-played tracks that get hammered once again.
Take the soul out of a soul singer - as Clive Davis did with Whitney - and you're playing with fire. He desperately wanted a Diana Ross for the Reagan era, her 'hit period' of 85-93 was their attempt at this. No wonder she ended up with a crack habit trying to escape her syrupy goody-two-shoes image and bland material. Her best music was made after she hit the skids (My Love Is Your Love, It's Not Right But It's Ok, Million Dollar Bill etc).
Her legacy is in the end sadly the vanilla faux-soul over-singing Glee-club horror you see on every kareoke tv talent contest when she was, in reality, from the grand tradition of Etta, Billie & her Auntie Aretha. That's the real tragedy.
R.I.P Whitney but I believe her fate was sealed in the 80s much like MJ - America Eats Its Young.

that is a harsh comment Chris

I'm with Chris on this.

Dear Chris and Andrew

If you want to speak ill of the dead then kindly bugger off and start your own thread and do not hijack mine with your
negative comments ok.

No reason for anyone not to express their opinions KZ - even though we may disagree with them.

DJKZ wrote:
Dear Chris and Andrew

If you want to speak ill of the dead then kindly bugger off and start your own thread and do not hijack mine with your
negative comments ok.

You should re-read my post. I did not "speak ill of the dead" but offered the thoughtful considerations of a knowledgable music lover. She made some great records, she also made some widely-loved but (in my opinion) not so great records that (see yesterdays thoughts by the likes of Waterman & Cowell, which focus on her influence on the likes of X-Factor and the warbling pop singers of the past 15/20 years who possess none of the soul Whitney had). Her fatal lifestyle choices were probably more influenced by the pressures of being heavily promoted as a whiter-than-white pop princess and put on this international pedestal as opposed to being a soul chanteuse like her mother Cissy, her Auntie Dionne or her Godmother Aretha - and the need to rebel against this schtick - than anything Bobby Brown did or did not do.
Stating the obvious in the face of over-grief being expressed everywhere I turn does not make me Albert Goldman.

Well said Chris. Always annoys me when people talk about 'speaking ill of the dead'...as if someone who dies is immediately promoted to sainthood regardless. I didn't like the woman or her music...I thought that whilst she was alive and in death.

Hi Chris I appreciate your reply and maybe I was a bit harsh but the point I was trying to make was
create another thread for your assessment of her music. This was more of pro Whitney post. Not saying
you can't express your opinion I just didn't want this post to descend into a let's slag off Whitney.

DJKZ wrote:
Hi Chris I appreciate your reply and maybe I was a bit harsh but the point I was trying to make was
create another thread for your assessment of her music. This was more of pro Whitney post. Not saying
you can't express your opinion I just didn't want this post to descend into a let's slag off Whitney.

So everyone has to love her.

We are slipping into Diana hysteria here. Didn't like her either. Don't fucking tell me what to post or we'll fall out. Big time!

Think before you speak DJ.

My apologies DJ. I was bang out of order.

Thought-provoking - and ultimately very respectful - article on Whitney here
music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/w...d-she-215035314.html